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Batterer Intervention Programs Often Do Not Change Offender Behavior

Courts often mandate that convicted abusive partners attend batterer intervention programs in addition to serving a probation term. NIJ researchers have evaluated the most common batterer intervention programs. Most findings show that these programs do not change batterers' attitudes toward women or domestic violence, and that they have little to no impact on reoffending.

One study did find that men who were married and had a stake in the community (such as owning a home) and men who completed the full program were slightly less likely to reoffend.
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Other batterer program evaluations have been conducted, but with inconsistent results. One approach that researchers may use to integrate the results from various evaluations is known as meta-analysis. Two separate meta-analyses carried out on the more rigorous batterer intervention studies found that these programs have, at best, a modest or minimal benefit.[2,
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Contradictory research results have created confusion among professionals who work in fields related to domestic violence and criminal justice.

To explore how the systems that work with perpetrators of domestic violence could be improved and how research could be more helpful to the field, the Family Violence Prevention Fund and NIJ co-sponsored a meeting on batterer intervention programs and domestic violence research and practice in December 2009. Attendees examined the state of the current research on batterer intervention programs, highlighted some innovative practices and looked at how related fields of research are approaching similar problems.

One result of this meeting is recommendations for research and practice. See: